Resolution regarding Death Penalty=

SA06.05.08 Opposing the Wisconsin death penalty

VOTED WHEREAS criminal and terrorist acts of violence sadden, frighten, and anger us and we believe that those who engage in such acts must be held accountable.

Whereas there are many reasons for our opposition to the death penalty. Some of them are based on beliefs and values widely shared by Believers and non-Believers alike. Others derive from our specifically Christian identity and beliefs.

Among the first are the following:

1. There is no proof that the death penalty deters crime.

2. There is no way to make the death penalty fair. Poor people, who have very little resources with which to defend themselves, are more likely to be executed than people of means, especially if they are also people of color. Unless and until poverty and prejudice are completely eliminated from our society, the death penalty will continue to be applied in unfair ways. And although the death penalty is not unique in this regard, since poor people are disadvantaged in every way, it is in a category by itself, because it deprives the condemned person of life itself.

3. In spite of new technological developments like DNA tests, unless we develop a perfect system it is inevitable that sooner or later an innocent person will be convicted and executed. Perfection in any human system seems beyond possibility.

4. At the ELCA Social Statement on Capital Punishment says, “The death penalty…deforms our response to violence…It perpetuates cycles of violence.”

Whereas important as these practical reasons for opposing the death penalty are, several beliefs that are at the heart of our Christian identity are for us more important still. They include the following:

1. God created human beings in the divine image and likeness. We interpret this to mean that human life is sacred in the eyes of God as it should be in our eyes.

2. As Lutheran Christians, we emphasize that our status as image and likeness of God based on grace, not works. Just as there is nothing we can do to earn our status as image of God, so also there is nothing we can do to destroy it, although sin, including acts of violence, certainly mars and distorts it.

3. As Christians, we aspire to be disciples of and to follow Jesus of Nazareth, who taught us to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44) and to forgive our enemies not 7 but 70 times 7.

Whereas we are convinced that support of the death penalty is contrary to these central Christian beliefs. At the same time, we recognize that there are fellow Christians who affirm these beliefs as strongly as we do yet who come to a different conclusion with regard to the death penalty. They believe that is it precisely for the sake of love of neighbor that we need the death penalty. This argument seems to us unconvincing, especially in our time, when there are so many alternatives to the death penalty that are equally effective in providing the safety we all desire. Be it

RESOLVED that the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin, meeting in Assembly on May 5 and 6, 2006, oppose the death penalty and its reintroduction into Wisconsin. Be it further

RESOLVED that this Assembly urge all congregations of the Synod to study and discuss the ELCA’s Social Statement on The Death Penalty and give serious consideration to this statement as they prepare to vote on the November Advisory Referendum on the death penalty.

ADOPTED